2. Definition
WHAT IS MEAN WORLD SYNDROME?
•The term “Mean World Syndrome" was coined by Dr. George Gerbner in his
work “Cultivation Theory”.
•This theory explains that, television has long-term effects which are
small, gradual, indirect but cumulative and significant.
•Heavy viewing of television is seen as „cultivating‟ attitudes which are more
consistent with the world of television programmes than with the everyday
world.
•Viewers who consume a lot of media, believe the world to be a more
dangerous place than it actually is, creating a sense of anxiety, fear and anger
that is out of proportion with reality. This insecurity, often leads to a greater
desire for protection from the perceived danger.
•Mean World Syndrome is a debatable phenomenon where the violence-related
content of mass media convinces viewers that the world is more dangerous
than it actually is.
3. TV Viewing:
• There is a distinction between three groups of television viewers:
• Light viewers
• Medium viewers and
• Heavy viewers
.
• This concept (Mean world Syndrome) focus on „heavy viewers‟.
• People who watch a lot of television are likely to be more influenced
by the ways in which the world is framed by television programs than
are individuals who watch less, especially regarding topics of which the
viewer has little first-hand experience.
• Light viewers may have more sources of information than heavy
viewers.
• Gerbner‟s theory called the “mean world syndrome” says heavy
television viewers are more likely to become more fearful of the world
around them.
4. TV and Violence
• Gerbner did a research on how violence in television effects society, he noted
that people who watch a lot of TV think that world is a ruthless and scary
place. And hence subconsciously they always remain in a state of fear and
insecurity.
• People are influenced by believing what they see or hear is real, and then
making it their own belief.
• People are influenced subconsciously; they not only see an act on television
and decide “hey, that‟s a good idea...I'll do that”, but they see something so
often that it becomes implemented into their minds as commonplace.
• When any difficult event comes in their life, they snap and takes the extreme
step like murdering someone.
5. Michigan first-grader fatally shot by
classmate 29/02/00
MT. MORRIS TOWNSHIP, Mich. (Reuters) –
• A 6-year-old boy armed with a stolen gun Tuesday shot and
killed his classmate, a girl his age, with a single bullet through the
neck, the latest in a series of shootings in American schools.
• Police and witnesses said the boy showed off the .32 caliber
handgun to other students while the first grade class and the
teacher were leaving the classroom.
• He pointed it at another boy, then whirled around and shot
Kayla Rolland once through the neck.
6. Some of the Movies which
shows the World is Mean:
7. Some of the issues which shows the
World is Mean:
Themes:
Mean world syndrome can cause by the following themes,
• Communal Riots
• Marginalization
• Rape
• Murder etc
Possible present day case histories causing Mean World
Syndrome:
• Soumya murder case- 2011 (who was pushed out of a moving train by a thief and
brutally raped in the railway tracks)
• Jessica Lal case- 1999 (shot at a party in Qutub colonnade restaurant in South Delhi)
• Dandupalaya case- 1930‟s ( A gang which looted victims and slit their throats, and to
withstand the sight of gore, they drank animal blood)
8. Effects of Mean World Syndrome:
• Gerbner’s research found that those who watch greater amount of television are
more likely to:
1. overestimate their risk of being victimized by crime
2. believe their neighborhoods are unsafe
3. believe "fear of crime is a very serious personal problem"
4. assume the crime rate is increasing, even when it is not
Example:
• In a survey of about 450 New Jersey schoolchildren, 73 percent of heavy viewers
compared to 62 percent of light viewers gave the TV answer to a question asking
them to estimate the number of people involved in violence in a typical week.
• The same survey showed that children who were heavy viewers were more fearful
about walking alone in a city at night.
9. Research on Mean World Syndrome:
• A Norwegian study that included 20 teenage boys found that the lack of
parental rules regulating what the boys watched was a more significant
predictor of aggressive behavior than the amount of media violence they
watched. It also indicated that exposure to real world violence, together with
exposure to media violence, created an `overload‟ of violent events.
• One of the research shows that some of the most sensational and terrifying
stories on TV is aired on local news, which is the primary news source for
two-third of all Americans. Studies show that 61 per cent of all lead stories in
local news broadcasts are dedicated to crime, fire, and disaster.
• Potter and Chang pointed out that any cultivation test must have at least two
measures, Cultivation and exposure to TV. The cultivation measure usually is
an estimate of the meanness or violence found in a respondent‟s world.
Exposure to TV is measured as the number of hours “on an average day” or
the number of evenings per week in which TV is viewed “at least one hour”.
10. Conclusion:
• TV viewing colors our experiences and makes us less trusting of others, thus
unwilling to participate in civic life.
• We might see the world as a `mean‟ place, but believe that it is our moral
obligation to make it better. Values are more likely to be shaped by family ties
than by external influences such as TV
• A viewer might reasonably think that the real world is cruel as well.
• If you watch a lot of TV, you are likely to believe that the `world of TV‟ is
the real world. And it is a `mean world,‟ where people don‟t trust each other,
would try to take advantage of each other, and are looking out primarily for
them
• To over come Mean world syndrome, spend a week without watching any
television. Television can fill your mind with negativity, bombard you with
image manipulation via commercials and give you a distorted view of reality
by showing you everything that's bad about the world.
